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27 <br />Iv <br />SITE ASSESSMENT <br />The third step in the preparation and use of the LESA system <br />is to develop a system for identifying important factors, other <br />than soils, that affect the economic viability of a site for <br />agricultural and /or forest land use. <br />SITE ASSESSMENT FACTORS <br />Listed below are those site assessment factors considered to <br />be the most important in Orange County for comparing alternative <br />sites for development rights acquisition. As recommended in the <br />LESA Handbook, factors were stratified into conditions rated from 0 <br />to 10, with maximum points (10) assigned when a condition supported <br />the continuation of agricultural use. Zero (0) points were assigned <br />when a condition supported the conversion of agricultural or forest <br />land to an urban use. <br />Percentage of Area in Agriculture /Forest Use <br />Areas that are exclusively agriculture or forest are more <br />viable for such uses than areas that are a mix of urban and <br />agricultural uses. The LESA Handbook suggests that the area to be <br />considered could range from one - fourth to 10 square miles. <br />A proposed Farmland Preservation Program Ordinance for Orange <br />County recommends threshholds for the amount of land needed to <br />qualify as an agricultural district. A district may consist of <br />several farms but must contain at least 350 contiguous acres. This <br />is equivalent to approximately one --half square mile and is used as <br />the standard by which to assign points for this factor. <br />Percent of Area in <br />A riculture Forest Use <br />Points <br />80 <br />to <br />100 <br />percent <br />10.0 <br />60 <br />to <br />80 <br />percent <br />7.5 <br />40 <br />to <br />60 <br />percent <br />5.0 <br />20 <br />to <br />40 <br />percent <br />2.5 <br />0 <br />to <br />20 <br />percent <br />0.0 <br />The ane =half mile standard is applied by measuring a distance <br />of 2100 feet--from-.the tract boundary and calculating the amount of <br />land in urban and agricultural use. The 2100 -foot distance is <br />equivalent to the radius of a circle with a one -half square mile <br />area. This method eliminates the tract proposed for development <br />rights acquisition from the calculation. <br />Land Use Adjacent to Site <br />If all the land adjacent to a site is in agricultural use, the <br />site is more viable for agriculture than if the land surrounding it <br />is urban. For purposes of assigning points to such a factor, the <br />LESA Handbook suggested the following: <br />